Crafton-Ingram Shopping Center, Crafton, PA

[TheFugitive]

This is a VERY LARGE outdoor plaza that straddles the border between the boroughs of
Crafton and Ingram, a few miles west of Pittsburgh.  Shops are laid around the perimeter in
more or less a rectangular pattern, with a central paved parking area that is the size of several
football fields.

I first remember this plaza as the home to a W.T. Grant store where my grandparents used to shop.
Complete with an attached café which had its own entrance.  After Grants went out of business in the
70's it became a Kmart store.   It remained one up until the massive Super Kmart in Moon Township
opened around 1994.  (that store closed and was demolished last year, the property having been sold
to Chevron for construction of an HQ for their shale fracking operations).

The Kmart location is now a large Giant Eagle.

At one point this shopping center was suffering from the reputation that it was not safe to shop there.
This was largely due to the proximity of Broadhead Manor, a large and very dangerous housing project.
Broadhead has since been torn down, and things in Crafton have gradually gotten calmer.

Other current tenants aside from Giant Eagle include Sav-A-Lot, Dollar Tree, Busy Beaver (a local home center chain), CW Price, Rite Aid, Market Fresh (a meat market), a cafeteria, a beer distributor, a Chinese restaurant, Subway, Advance Auto, a nail salon, a gym, a shoe repair shop, Crafton-Ingram Lanes (bowling), PNC Bank, Mugshots (a bar), and H&R Block.

Adjacent but not in the center are Walgreens and CVS (both out front where some crappy old apartment buildings had once stood), Family Dollar, Dunkin' Donuts and a Goodyear tire center.  There is also a car wash which is currently closed.  Giant Eagle has also taken a small corner of the massive parking lot and constructed a GetGo gas station.

Some of the past tenants which I can recall include a Foodland supermarket, a Shop and Save, a Whitlock Auto Supply store, A.J. Wright, D.O.T.S., Buy-Wise (local chain, sort of a cross between a hardware and a dollar store) and Payless Shoes.

According to Crafton Borough historical sources, the plaza opened in 1958, and was built on swampland which was originally owned by the US Army.  Located just off of Steuben St. (PA Route 60) which is convenient to both Downtown and the Airport.

That though may also have had a negative impact on this center, as Route 60 also takes you straight to the much newer, burgeoning retail developments in Robinson Township.